Three Wise Monkeys okimono by Koizumi Seiya

Three Wise Monkeys Okimono by Koizumi Seiya.
Bronze.
Japan.
Meiji era.
h. 20 cm ; l. 25 cm.

Bronze okimono statuette signed by Koizumi Seiya, a Japanese sculptor of the Meiji era, active in Tokyo at the end of the 19th century.

On January 1, 1873, a new calendar is adopted in Japan : the Gregorian calendar replaces the traditional lunar calendar. This revolution is perhaps the most representative reform of the Emperor Meiji's era, during which Japan's modernisation was seen as synonymous with Westernisation. The infantry is reorganised on the Prussian model ; the navy on the English, education on the French and art on the Italian.

Vicenzo Ragusa, an Italian sculptor, was appointed professor and head of the sculpture department at the K?bu bijutsu-gakk?, a new fine arts school founded in Tokyo in 1876, where were taught Western art history and technique.

The bronze works of this period are a synthesis of Western inspiration and Japanese tradition. Here, the traditional art of okimono meets that of Western naturalistic sculpture. It's signed by Koizumi Seiya, or Genryusai, a great sculptor of animal bronzes of the Meiji era, here reinterpreting a traditional Taoist theme, that of the three monkeys of wisdom : Mi-zaru the blind (in Japanese ?? : not seeing), Kika-zaru the deaf (?? : not hearing) and Iwa-zaru the mute (??? : not hearing). It is a pun on the word saru (?), that is monkey in Japanese.

In Japan, statues of Mi-zaru, Kika-zaru and Iwa-zaru have been set crossroads in honor of Koshin, the god of roads, since at least the 16th century, to teach travelers to be prudent and pure.

Sources

William Gerard Beasley, The Modern History of Japan, New York, 1963.

Iwao Seiichi, Iyanaga Teizo, et al., Dictionnaire historique du Japon, Tokyo, 1987.

Wolfgang Mieder, "The Proverbial Three Wise Monkeys" in Tradition and Innovation in Folk Literature, Lebanon, 1987.

Felice Fischer, The Art of Japanese Craft. 1875 to the Present, Philadelphie, 2008.

Gérard Siary, Histoire du Japon. Des origines à nos jours, Paris, 2020.